[CH] Wish Me Luck - New Internet Business
jjk (jknoll4@cox.net)
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:42:09 -0600
Driving to work this a.m., a brilliant idea struck me. I was watching
Alton Brown's chile (ok, Chili, if you want to be correct) episode last
night for the unteempth time, and it struck me when he said that making
your own chile powder was far superior to the stuff you get in the
store. In fact, I think he said homemade powder had superior flavor,
and the stuff you get in the store had less flavor than the glue on the
label of the chile pepper bottle. I took it to heart. I've heard
several bbqers (including Paul Kirk, the Baron of BBQ) say the same thing.
I relocated to the Midwest from New Mexico in 1987. I missed the flavor
of New Mexico green chile, and couldn't find plants at my local home
centers that measured up. Sure, they had "Anaheim Chiles" and "Super
Chiles" but they never had the flavor or pungency of NM green chile. So
I started importing seed and growing my own. Growing in the Kansas clay
with a short growing season and high humidity, they still aren't "Hatch
Chile" or "Espanola" chile or even Chimayo chile, but my home-grown
varieties were still a damn sight better than the fruits you get off the
plants obtained from the local home store. I figure there must be other
NM transplants or passersby out there who know good chile when they
taste it, and are willing to obtain and start seed and grow their own.
So the idea was a internet chile seed company. I've been paying folks
(NMSU, Tough-Love Chile Company and ThePepperGal) for seed for years,
and decided to compete with them. So today I registered
MidwestChileheads.com and am about to set out on my journey - selling
chile seeds on the internet. Low cost product, can't normally get it
locally, low overhead and low shipping costs. What could go wrong?
Lol. I'm sure there are lots of things. Eventually, the business will
offer high-quality chile powder, salsa, hot sauce and all things
chile-related. Baby steps for now, though.
This will be my first venture into ecommerce. The website is
www.midestchileheads.com (you may recognize the group name from our
Midwest Hot Luck Group) but right now it just has the freebee business
profile page that Network Solutions gives you. Wish me luck! And let
me know if you want some of my so far extremely limited variety of
seeds. Since I am a lawyer, the disclaimer follows. JJK
The disclaimer: MidwestChileheads does not offer "certified" seed and
does not guarantee that your product will grow. There are way too many
variables for that to happen. I don't have enough land to grow
certified seed, and your poor gardening skills just create too many
variables for me to guarantee any specific results. Your seeds will
sprout at about an 80% rate if you treat them right, but after that,
it's all on you. What do you expect for $3.00 per seed packet? If you
want certified seed, buy it from the New Mexico Chile Pepper Institute
<http://chilepepperinstitute.org/chile-pepper-institute-c.html#anchor_23260>
or some other reputable seed vendor. I'm an upstart company growing
chile seeds in my backyard. If you want perfection, you have to pay
for it!
--
JJK
CH # 1149
from somewhere in the Midwest
jknoll4@cox.net